The Sphere, aka the 366-foot-tall orb situated in the heart of Las Vegas, demonstrated what 1.2 million lit-up LEDs look like. During its first display on Tuesday night, animations showing fireworks, the American flag, the Moon, and even a giant blinking eyeball emanated from the 580,000-square-foot panel.
Las Vegas is known for some pretty wild landmarks, but this one is more than just a humongous display-on-a-ball. On the inside, it’s a spherical theater that houses 18,000 seats, along with a 16K wraparound LED screen. The whole thing cost Sphere Entertainment over $2 billion to build.
According to the company, the LED pucks on this massive screen are spaced eight inches apart and contain 48 individual LED diodes, each of which can display 256 million different colors. The Sphere hasn’t officially opened yet, but it will continue to light up on the outside, with U2 kicking things off with the very first show in the venue this September.
Even if we can’t get inside the venue just yet, it’s still pretty cool to see the displays on the outside — and just how strangely futuristic it looks against the Vegas skyline. Users across TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube, captured the Sphere’s first display, and we’ve compiled some of the best videos here:
@spherevegas A Fourth of July event like only #SphereVegas can provide.
@day_amazing Las Vegas MSG Sphere inaugural show for the 4th of July. #lasvegas #msgsphere #4thofjuly #trending #fyp #vegastok
@perezhiltonlasvegas Hello, world!!! Video via @mwarchala. #MSGsphere #SphereVegas #Sphere #TheSphere #LasVegas #Vegas
@keetasimone Sphere Vegas made its official debut tonight July 4th with none other than the all seeing eye ️ Cameras that make up the almost 360° experience are 40x 4k with 8 patents pending, and the audio is just as robust. Expect more of these immersive experiences coming to sin cityas Universal Studios is set to open a massive horror house next door to Area 15!! #area15 #universialstudios #vegastiktok #spherevegas #vegaslocal #whattodoinvegas #fyp #vegaslife
@letslasvegas OKAY HERE IS MORE OF THE MSG SPHERE BECAUSE I AN OBSSESSED WITH IT #msgspherelasvegas #VEGASTOK #VegasStrip #VegasFun #VegasNight #LetsLasVegas
♬ Spider-Man 2099 (Miguel O’Hara) – Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Daniel Pemberton
Freaking Amazing! MSG Sphere the World’s Largest LED screen in Las Vegas lights up for the 1st time on 4th of July. There are about half an hour of different visuals. Looks epic in person! pic.twitter.com/dLzkhg6ju9
— Attractions 360° (@SoCal360) July 5, 2023